Governor Andrew Cuomo was seen as a voice of reason and calm during the early days of the pandemic, especially at a time when President Trump was offering practically no leadership at all regarding this crisis. Lately, however, Governor Cuomo is being seen in a different light as two former aides have accused him of sexual harrassment. Cuomo has denied the claims, and an independent investigation will likely take place under the auspices of the New York attorney general and the chief judge of the state court of appeals. Governor Cuomo once said “It was ugly. It was ugly. I’ll tell you the truth.” What was he referring to?

New YorkGovernor Andrew Cuomo by AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin is in the public domain

A. When Governor Cuomo was attempting to get the Orthodox community to follow state guidelines for public gatherings during the COVID pandemic, most leaders in the Orthodox community simply ignored him. However, Heshy Tischler, the Borough Park Orthodox activist and talk show host, verbally attacked Cuomo on his radio show, saying among other things that the Catholic Cuomo had “no clue what it was really like to be religious,” thus leading to Cuomo’s comment.

B. Andrew Cuomo was speaking about a trip he made to Israel in 2015. He had visited the Western Wall, and happened to be there when a group of Orthodox Jews began protesting a women’s minyan and Torah reading that was taking place in the women’s section. Cuomo was referring to the men who were yelling and throwing eggs, water bottles, and other objects across the dividing wall towards the women.

C. In 1991, Cuomo was serving as the chair of the New York City Homeless Commission in the David Dinkins administration. His comments were in response to the Crown Heights riot which occurred in August of that year. At that time Black residents in Brooklyn attacked Chassidic Jews in response to an auto accident where two Guyanese immigrant children were struck by a car whose passenger was the Lubavitch Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

D. Governor Cuomo was the main speaker at an event at the Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem in 2018. During his talk, Cuomo made the comments about Democratic consultant and Orthodox Rabbi Hank Sheinkopf, who was sitting in the front row. Cuomo was specifically referring to Sheikopf’s dancing, as Sheinkopf moved to the music that was playing in the church.

E. Cuomo was referring to the first time he attended a Passover seder, specifically when they served a food he had never seen before, the gefilte fish.

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Much of the country was hit by severe weather last week, including snow, freezing rain, and frigid temperatures throughout the deep South. Texas was particularly hard hit, with major power outages resulting in water shortages that are ongoing. And Senator Ted Cruz found himself in the middle of a P.R. crisis as he and his family left town for a Cancún vacation. Organized Jewish life first began in Texas in the 1850’s, though the first North American Jew known to have been in Texas was Captain Samuel Noah who commanded a Mexican force against Spain at San Antonio in 1811. The current Jewish population of Texas is over 150,000, particularly centered in the larger cities of Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso. One significant event in Texas Jewish history was the Galveston Movement. What was that?

Texas by Noé Alfaro is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. The Galveston Movement grew out of a regional meeting of Reform Jewish congregations along the Gulf Coast, including temples in Houston, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Biloxi. The Reform movement was struggling with the question of whether to maintain rules of Kashrut following the Trefa Banquet in Cincinnati in 1883. This event was a celebration of the first graduating class of Hebrew Union College and was held at a non-kosher restaurant. The Gulf Coast congregations met and decided to discontinue support of kosher rules and established the Galveston Movement to formalize this change and advocate for it among other southern Reform congregations.

B. The Galveston Movement was an effort by owners of hotels in Miami Beach in the 1950’s to capitalize on their success of bringing Jewish New Yorkers to Florida for Passover package vacations featuring seders and kosher-for-Passover food. The hoteliers hoped to attract Jews from Midwestern cities such as Chicago and St. Louis to spend their Passover vacation in the Texas beach resort town. They contracted with Galveston hotels including the famous Beach Hotel and the historic Hotel Galvez to provide rooms, and they arranged for the kashering of the hotel kitchens. While this Galveston Movement initially met with some success, the idea ultimately did not catch on as it did in Miami Beach and the last hotel to offer a Passover package ended the program in 1963.

C. The Galveston Movement was an effort in the early 20th century to divert European Jewish immigrants to an entry at the Port of Galveston rather than Ellis Island, to lessen the burden of huge immigration to cities on the Eastern Seaboard. Financially supported by philanthropist Jacob Schiff, the Galveston Movement saw more than 10,000 Jewish immigrants arrive in the United States at Galveston, from where they dispersed to other southern, midwestern and western cities.

D. The Galveston Movement was an effort to set up bungalow colonies in Galveston for poor Jewish families to escape to during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1905. Jews from Houston, Austin and even Dallas traveled to Galveston where the less crowded conditions and gulf breeze helped stem the spread of the disease. The effort, funded by wealthy German Jews who had settled in Houston beginning in the 1870’s, was geared toward providing safer housing for the recent Eastern European Jews who had emigrated to cities in Texas.

E. The Galveston Movement was a line dance which became popular at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs in Galveston in the 1980’s. Similar to the Chicken Dance, the Galveston Movement was danced to the Glen Campbell hit song Galveston, with movements replicating sea winds blowing, sea waves crashing, and sea birds flying in the sun. At Galveston.

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Tomorrow, February 16, is Mardi Gras, the annual celebration in New Orleans marking the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. This year’s public celebration has been canceled, one more victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s probably just as well, given that New Orleans is facing unusual freezing temperatures with the possibility of sleet and light snow over the next 24 hours. Not surprisingly, New Orleanians are creatively celebrating through the decorating of more than a thousand Mardi Gras-themed House Floats for locals and visitors to view. Mardi Gras has a long history of exclusion of Jews from the Krewes, or parading organizations, though this has dramatically changed in recent decades. In 1996, the inclusion of Jews became even more noted, with the formation of a parading group known as the Krewe du Jieux, whose members expressly flaunted Jewish stereotypes for humor, wearing big noses, throwing decorated bagels to the crowds, and featuring characters such as the Big Macher and the Gaza Stripper. In 2006, the Krewe du Jieux split, however, over creative and philosophical differences, leading to the formation of a second Jewish-themed Krewe. What is the name of the newer Krewe?

Mardi Gras decorations on St Charles Avenue, Uptown New Orleans by Infrogmation of New Orleans is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. The Krewe of Jieux Dats.

B. The Krewe du Nieux Jieuxs.

C. The Krewe du Mishigas.

D. The Krewe of Tuches.

E. The Krewe of One Jew, Two Synagogues.

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

Rabbi Abraham Twerski died last week in Jerusalem at the age of 90 from COVID-19. Rabbi Twerski was a a scion of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty who also went to medical school, leading to a renowned career as a psychiatrist, an addiction specialist, and a rabbinic scholar. He is credited with introducing twelve step programs against addiction into the Jewish world, which was resistant because of the Christian origins of that approach to treatment. Among Rabbi Twerski’s many Jewish accomplishments was the writing of a tune for the psalm Hoshea et Amecha which is sung in synagogues around the world.  Who was Rabbi Twerski referring to when he spoke of an “ultimate example of unrequited love?”

Twerski (cropped).jpg by Latkelarry is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

A. Leah, for Jacob.

B. 700 wives and 300 concubines, for King Solomon.

C. Bathsheba, for David.

D. Delilah, for Samson.

E. Lucy, for Schroeder.

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡